The Bethlehem Planning Commission on Thursday approved plans for 30 apartments on Chelsea Avenue, one of several apartment proposals pitched in the neighborhoods several blocks north of the historic district.

The plan includes the construction of a three-story apartment building at 1325 Chelsea Ave. It would include 18 one-bedroom units and 12 two-bedroom units on the half-acre lot near East Greenwich Street.

In response to neighbors' concerns, Rob DeBeer, development director for Peron Development, said the developers will landscape one of the parking lots and repave Chelsea Avenue, from Greenwich to Elizabeth avenues.

The project, expected to break ground in 90 days, is estimated to bring the city a $45,000 recreation fee and $55,594 sewer tapping fee.

DeBeer said he called the apartment project a good transition between nearby offices and residential neighborhoods.

"I think it's been an underappreciated area for quite sometime," DeBeer said. "Like us, I think others are starting to understand the value there."

The project is one of several apartment buildings pitched for that area. Earlier this year, developers pitched plans to turn the top six floors of the office building at 65 E. Elizabeth Ave. into apartments. Just a few blocks away at 810 Monocacy St., a 19th-century brewery would house loft-style, two-story apartments under another proposal submitted to the city.

There are another half-dozen units at 18 W. Goepp St. and, a few years before, the Silk Mill apartments at 238 W. Goepp St.

In other business, the Planning Commission was deadlocked over a zoning change that would have made it easier to convert large homes into offices.

City planner Darlene Heller said the administration would discuss the Planning Commission's divided recommendation before deciding whether to sent it to City Council. Council must approve all zoning changes.

The proposed change to the residential transition zoning district would only apply to detached or semi-detached houses of at least 3,000 square feet on lots adjacent to a commercial business district. The types of businesses would be limited to accounting, engineering, financial planning, insurance, law, medicine, psychology and real estate.

After residents opposed the proposal at last month's meeting, the administration revised it to require that some residential use be maintained in the building.